Presenter Information

Faculty Mentor

Matthew Stern, Ph.D.

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Biology

Location

West 221

Start Date

20-4-2018 3:00 PM

Description

Cellular physiology is regulated by both biochemical and mechanical stimuli received from the environment. Traditional cell culture experiments typically focus on manipulation of the biochemical stimuli present in cell culture medium, while largely ignoring the role of mechanotransduction in the cellular processes being studied. A growing body of literature demonstrates that systematic manipulation of the physical/mechanical environment of cultured cells can be effectively used to drive a desired outcome – such as stem cell differentiation into a particular lineage. We are interested in the use of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) as a plentiful and easily obtained source of patient-matched multipotent stem cells for tissue engineering applications, including skeletal muscle tissue engineering. While ADSCs are capable of robust in vitro differentiation into several lineages, their ability to undergo (skeletal) myogenic differentiation is relatively limited. We hypothesized that the culture of ADSCs on flexible silicone membranes combined with the application of uniaxial stretch would increase the ability of ADSCs to differentiate down the myogenic lineage. Here, we describe the development and testing of a culture system that allows us to tune the material properties of the silicone membranes used as substrates for cell culture and apply precise regimens of uniaxial stretch to cells cultured on the membranes. Our results show that both culture on silicone membranes and exposure to uniaxial stretch alter the properties of ADSCs under standard growth conditions. Future work will seek to identify a combination of biochemical and mechanical stimuli that improves the efficiency of myogenic differentiation of ADSCs within this system.

Previously Presented/Performed?

Grant Support?

Supported by SC INBRE and INBRE Developmental Research Project grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH-NIGMS)

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Apr 20th, 3:00 PM

The Effects of Uniaxial Stretch on Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Cultured on Flexible Silicone Membranes with Different Material Properties

West 221

Cellular physiology is regulated by both biochemical and mechanical stimuli received from the environment. Traditional cell culture experiments typically focus on manipulation of the biochemical stimuli present in cell culture medium, while largely ignoring the role of mechanotransduction in the cellular processes being studied. A growing body of literature demonstrates that systematic manipulation of the physical/mechanical environment of cultured cells can be effectively used to drive a desired outcome – such as stem cell differentiation into a particular lineage. We are interested in the use of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) as a plentiful and easily obtained source of patient-matched multipotent stem cells for tissue engineering applications, including skeletal muscle tissue engineering. While ADSCs are capable of robust in vitro differentiation into several lineages, their ability to undergo (skeletal) myogenic differentiation is relatively limited. We hypothesized that the culture of ADSCs on flexible silicone membranes combined with the application of uniaxial stretch would increase the ability of ADSCs to differentiate down the myogenic lineage. Here, we describe the development and testing of a culture system that allows us to tune the material properties of the silicone membranes used as substrates for cell culture and apply precise regimens of uniaxial stretch to cells cultured on the membranes. Our results show that both culture on silicone membranes and exposure to uniaxial stretch alter the properties of ADSCs under standard growth conditions. Future work will seek to identify a combination of biochemical and mechanical stimuli that improves the efficiency of myogenic differentiation of ADSCs within this system.